Sliding door



July 29, 1958 T. J. KELLY SLIDING DOOR Filed Sept. 26, 1957 MW Md Q m 0W m m 6. m H

United States Patent Ofiice 2,844,849 Patented July 29, 1958 SLIDINGDOOR Thomas J. Kelly, Scarsdale, N. Y.

Application September 26, 1957, Serial No. 686,532

6 Claims. (CI. 20-19) This invention relates to sliding doors andparticularly to improvements in supporting or suspension means, having anovel structural relation to the body of the door. Although the improvedstructures are useful for other sliding closures, the invention is ofspecial significance for interior doors of buildings, for example wherea plurality of doors sliding across each other are employed for closetsor the like, or where a door is arranged to slide into and out of a wallpocket or recess at one side of the doorway.

A conventional mode of support for a sliding door in dwellingsandsimilar buildings involves a track mounted on the lintel or other framemember across the top of the doorway, and hangers which are afiixed tothe door at or adjacent its top edge and which have appropriate rollersor wheels to ride in the track. These parts are relatively costly, areusually difiicult to install, or require special skill for installation,and are in general rather complex; if the track is not properly leveledor the hangers not properly aligned, the door will not function asintended. Additional complexity and difficulty of installation are :aptto be involved where two or more doors are hung, to cover a singleopening jointly, since a plurality of parallel tracks are then required,necessarily at the underside of thelintel or corresponding framestructure.

The present invention is designed to provide sliding doors havingimproved supporting and sliding means, of simplified and relativelyinexpensive construction, and of such character as to be easy toinstall, with a minimum of parts external to the door itself. Furtherobjects are to provide supporting means requiring no elements attachedto the outer surface of the door or projecting therefrom, andparticularly to provide an arrangement that can be built into the door,as the latter is manufactured, with corresponding advantages ofconvenience and appearance.

To these and other ends, the invention comprises a sliding doorarrangement wherein the door itself has a horizontal passage near thetop, extending from one vertical edge to the other and parallel to andbetween the faces of the door, the passage being shaped to receive asupporting rod in free relation, and the door having internal bearingmeans designed to bear or rest in sliding relation on the rod. The rodis mounted, at its ends, in the side pieces of the frame within whichthe door is to slide, so that the door is suspended on the rod and maybe moved along it for the desired sliding function. The bearing meansmost advantageously comprise two bearing elements embedded or otherwiseconcealed within the uppermost part of the door and spaced along thepassage, each element being designed for free-sliding engagement withthe rod, conveniently as roller means, either of ball or roller wheeltype.

A further and presently preferred feature of invention is the embodimentof this arrangement in doors of the so-called hollow core type, forexample doors (usually of flush design) having a peripheral wood frameand two panels of plywood or the like constituting the respective facesof the door, with or without spacing or filling pieces or members atappropriate localities in the hollow interior of the assembly, forincreased rigidity of the face panels. With such structure, the rodpassage is constituted by the provision of holes in the upright piecesof the frame, and in internal spacers if necessary, so that thesupporting rod passes freely throughthe door from edge to edge,traversing the hollow interior. The bearing elements are mounted in theuppermost, horizontal frame piece, conveniently by having theirsupporting parts seated in appropriate recesses in such piece, so thattheir rollers face downwardly at localities to abut a rod in thedescribed passage.

As will now be appreciated, the bearing means and the aperturesconstituting the passage can be readily provided in the door structureat the time of its manufacture, so that the assembly is thus in effectprefabricated and sold as a sliding door unit, yet with no externallyattached or projecting parts that might become damaged in transportationor handling. For installation, it is essentially only necessary toprovide simple mountings for the ends of the supporting rod in thedoorway, and then to slide the rod into the door passage and insert therod (now supporting the door) in its mountings. Although basic featuresof the invention are applicable to doors of other types and uses, and ofother materials, the above embodiment of a pre-fabricated sliding doorrepresents a special improvement of unusual practical value.

Further details and cooperating structures, including screening meansfor the rods at the upper part of the doorway, are described below inconnection with certain embodiments ofthe invention as shown in theaccompanying drawing.

Referring to the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view, with parts broken away, of a pair ofsliding doors embodying the invention and installed in a suitabledoorway;

Fig. 2 is a horizontal section on line 22 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary vertical section on line 3-3 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary vertical section of a single door, similar toFig. 3, showing certain parts in modified forms;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary perspective view of a means for mounting thesupporting rod;

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary vertical section, parallel to the door face,showing the rod mounting of Fig. 5;

Fig. 7 is a section similar to Fig. 6, showing a modified rod mounting;

Fig. 8 is an exploded, fragmentary, perspective view of a guidearrangement for the bottom of the door;

Fig. 9 is an elevational view showing the guide arrangement of Fig. 8;

Fig. 10 is a vertical section, parallel to the door face, showing thebottom guide and supplemental support; and

Fig. 11 is a fragmentary perspective view of another roller bearingelement for support of the door on the rod.

Referring to Figs. 1, 2 and 3, the drawing shows a pair of sliding doors20, 21 mounted to operate across a doorway having upright verticalmembers or jarnbs 22, 23 and a horizontal member or lintel 24. Sucharrangement is appropriate, for example, as a door arrangement for acloset, whereby access to either side of the closet is afforded bysliding one or the other of the doors across the other.

Since both of the doors 20, 21 are identical, detailed description ofone will suflice for both, the same reference numbers being used toindicate identical parts in each. Thus, the door 21 is of the hollowcore construction described above, having a peripheral frame consistingof upright pieces 25,26 at the side edges, a top piece 27 and a bottompiece 28 similar to the top piece and indicated in Fig. 7. The front andrear faces of the door are respectively provided by flat panels 30, 31of plywood or the like, completely covering the internal frame.Additional bracing or filling members may beemployed within the hollowcentral region, for instance as indicated at 32, 33. Doors of this typeare of conventional construction for a variety of purposes, it beingunderstood that other specific arrangements of the frame and of thefilling or bracing elements may be employed as desired.

To provide a transverserpassage for the supporting rod, each of themembers 25, 26 has an opening 34, here shown as of rectangular shape toadmit a rod of like contour, the opening being conveniently slightlylarger than the rod. Thus, as clearly shown in Figs. 1-3, the supportingrod 35 freely traverses the passage constituted by the openings 34 inthe door 21 and a like rod 36 similarly traverses a like passage in thedoor 20.

For support of the door on the rod, two roller hearing means 37, 38 aremounted in the upright frame piece 27. These devices 37, 38 may begenerally of a type employed for roller support, such as under furnitureor the like, and may each consist of a mounting shank 40 and a rollerball 41 seated against appropriate ball bearing means as conventionallyemployed in roller devices of this type. The structures 37, 38 aremounted by appropriately imbedding the upper part of the shank 4% ofeach in the wooden frame piece 27. As will be appreciated, these devicesare positioned so that the balls 41 engage rod 35 in bearing relationand at relatively widely spaced localities, for stable support of thedoor. Thus when the rod 35 is inserted through the passage, the entireweight of the door is carried by the bearing elements 3'7, 38, theroller elements of each freely travelling on the rod and the rodtraversing the openings 34 without appreciable contact. Hence the doorslides readily on the rod, and since its center of gravity is far belowthe latter in a direct vertical line, the door is thus hung in aposition of stable equilibrium. The door 20, including identical bearingmeans 37, 38, is similarly supported on its rod 36.

Any of a variety of sockets or similar means may be provided to mountthe ends of the rods in the jambs or upright portions of the doorwayframe. Simply by way of illustration, Figs. 5 and 6 show a simple socketdevice comprising a mounting plate 43 and a projecting U-shaped socket44 into which the end ofthe rod 35 may be seated. If desired, a suitablepin or set screw may be inserted in an opening 45 in the side of thesocket to retain the rod in place. While other shapes, such as solid,round or rectangular members may be employed, the rods 35 and 36 arehere shown as lengths of channelshaped sections, conveniently arrangedwith the channel opening at one vertical side. It has been found thatchannel shapes of steel or the like are efiective for supporting slidingdoors in the manner indicated, without appreciable sagging. It will alsobe seen that the side frame members of the doors 25, 26 may beappropriately countersunk at the openings 34, for example, as indicatedin Fig. 6, to receive the socket portions 44 of the rod supports, sothat the doors may be closed tight against the door jambs when desired.

As conventional in sliding doors of this general type, guide means maybe provided, if desired, at the bottom of the door, to avoid anytendency toward swinging in a direction transverse of the doorway. Forexample, the bottom of each door may be transversely grooved as at 48(in Figs. 8, 9 and 10) and a guide element 50 is mounted in the floor orother cross member at the bottom of the doorway, projecting into thegroove 48. As will be seen, one guide is provided for each door,conveniently at a location near the center of the doorway. Since thedoorway has a width slightly less than twice the width of each door,each guide can be disposed. so as to be continuously received within agroove 48,. regardless of the door position.

If the presence of the rods 35, 36 is undesirable in appearance, a coveror skirt panel 51 may be provided at the top of the doorway on one sideor on both sides, i. e., in the nature of a valance, so as to enclosethe uppermost portions of the doors and the otherwise exposed portionsof the rods 35, 36.

It will now be seen that the described assembly atfords a simple yethighly effective means for supporting the sliding doors in a securelysuspended relation, with full freedom to slide easily across the desiredpath. The entire assembly constituted by each door itself, including theapertured arrangement that provides the rod passage and including thebearing members 37, 38, may be entirely prefabricated and sold as asliding door unit to builders or other users, for ready installation.The mounting means for the rods, such as the brackets 4344, are readilysecured, as by screws, in the upright members of the doorway, at anappropriate height which can be easily determined by measurement againstthe door itself. The mounting plate portions 43 of each bracket may berecessed in the jamb, in a manner generally similar to other types ofdoor hardware. A slight space may be provided between the desired normalposition of the top of the door and the lintel 24, to facilitateinsertion of the rods. In completing the assembly, it is only necessaryto insert each rod in its corresponding door, and then bring the partsinto place in the doorway, seating the ends of the rod in the sockets,the lower groove 48 of the door being at the same time seated over theguide 50. The cover panels 51 can then be installed and the sliding doorarrangement is complete and ready for use.

As explained, the various elements are susceptible of embodiment inother forms. Simply by way of example, Fig. 4 shows the use of asupporting rod 54 of solid, round cross-section. The bearing means arealso here shown as comprising a like roller ball assembly 55 arranged tobe mounted in a passage that extends entirely through the upper doorframe member 27 in a vertical direction, with a mounting flange 56 atthe top of the bearing assembly 55. With this modified form of bearingdevice, the door may either be prefabricated as contemplated in Figs. 1

' and 3, or the parts may be applied to an otherwise standard blank doorassembly, by the builder or other person installing the door.

Fig. 7 shows another, entirely simple mode of supporting the carryingrods such as the rod 35. Here an appropriate opening 58 is made in eachdoor jamb 59, conveniently of a size for admitting the rod without muchclearance. The rod is then simply passed through the openings, i. e.,first into one side of the doorway and then back into the other side,and may be held at each end by suitable means, such as a cotter pin 60,as indicated in Fig. 7. It will be appreciated that this arrangement isparticularly suitable where the door can be permanently hung prior tofinishing of the adjoining wall at one face of the doorway.

Although in general the entire support of the doors is carried by thebearings 37, 38, auxiliary support may be provided if desired, as withthe roller bearing element 62 imbedded in the floor beneath the bottomof the door at one side of the groove 48, all as indicated in Fig. 10.Fig. 11 shows a modified bearing arrangement for the support of thedoors on the rods, i. e., in lieu of the ball roller devices 37, 38.Here a wheel roller 64 is shown having a supporting shank 65 which canbe mounted in the upper door frame member, e. g. as shown in Fig. 3 orFig. 4, so that the door is appropriately hung in sliding relation onthe rod 66, the latter being shown in the alternative form of a solidrectangular cross-section.

Although the invention has been illustrated in connection with doors ofa specific type, arranged as a pair for a closet entrance or the like,the supporting and mounting parts are adaptable for many different kindsof doors, used in various arrangements, including single doors of thetype intended to slide into a recess or pocket at one side of thedoorway. In all instances, the structure is correspondingly simple andthe installation of the door or doors, appropriately hung for sliding,is a simple mat ter, requiring no great skill to attain properpositioning and alignment.

It is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the specificembodiments herein shown and described but may be carried out in otherways without departure from its spirit.

I claim:

1. A sliding door comprising a door having within its upper part ahorizontal passage extending from one vertical edge to the otherparallel to and between the faces of the door, said passage being shapedto receive a supporting rod freely traversing same, and bearing meansmounted within the door and disposed to bear on said rod traversing thepassage, for supporting the door in sliding relation.

2. A sliding door comprising a door having within its upper part ahorizontal passage extending from one vertical edge to the otherparallel to and between the faces of the door, a rod freely traversingsaid passage and adapted to be supported at its ends in frame structuresbetween which the door is to slide, and bearing means mounted within thedoor adjacent the said passage and arranged to support the door insliding relation on the rod.

3. A sliding door comprising a hollow core door including top andvertical edge members and face panels and having a horizontal passagetherein near the top of the door extending through openings in the edgemembers from one vertical face to the other parallel to and between theface panels, said passage being shaped to receive a supporting rodfreely traversing same, and a plurality of horizontally spaced rollermeans carried by the top member and disposed to bear on said rodtraversing the passage, for supporting the door in sliding relation.

4. A sliding door comprising a hollow core door including top andvertical edge members and face panels and having a horizontal passagetherein near the top of the door extending through openings in the edgemembers from one vertical edge to the other parallel to and between theface panels, a rod freely traversing said opening and adapted to besupported at its ends in frame structures between which the door is toslide, and a plurality of horizontally spaced roller means carried bythe top member and bearing on the rod, for supporting the door insliding relation.

5. A sliding door assembly comprising a doorway frame having uprightmembers at the sides of the doorway, a plurality of doors forcollectively closing said doorway, each door having within its upperpart a horizontal passage extending from one vertical edge to the otherparallel to and between the faces of the door, a plurality of rodsrespectively corresponding to the doors disposed across the doorway andsupported at their ends by the said upright members, each rod freelytraversing the passage in the corresponding door, and bearing meansmounted within each door adjacent'the said passage thereof and arrangedto support the door in sliding relation on the rod that traverses thepassage.

6. A sliding door assembly comprising a doorway frame having uprightmembers at the sides and a cross member at the top, a plurality of doorsfor collectively closing said doorway, each door having a horizontalpassage therein near the top of the door extending from one verticaledge to the other parallel to and between the faces of the door, aplurality of rods respectively corresponding to the doors disposed inparallel relation in a horizontal plane across the doorway and supportedat their ends by the said upright members, each rod freely traversingthe passage in the corresponding door, a plu rality of horizontallyspaced bearing means mounted within each door adjacent the said passagethereof and arranged to support the door in sliding relation on the rodthat traverses the passage, and panel means disposed across the doorwayadjacent the top thereof, extending between the upright members andalong the cross memher outside of the doors, for covering the regiontraversed by the rods.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS226,869 Mitchell Apr. 27, 1880 562,470 Jackson June 23, 1896 1,142,403Davis June 8, 1915

